I made this delicious portabello mushroom pizza. It takes like five minutes!
Just coat the mushrooms in olive oil and marinate them with salt and pepper. Sprinkle low-fat mozarella cheese all over them and top with tomatoes. Bake until the cheese melts.

It was so good! Does anyone have any fish recipes? I just bought some fresh bass.

I survived day 8, barely. I just want... something. Fruit juice even. I really wish my throat didn't swell up with all artificial sweetners I was looking at some no sugar/FF fudgsicle things today, they looked yummy, but I just don't want to get sick.

shadybabysmom - I weighed myself after 1 week, altho I did sneak a few peaks at the scale before then.. I didn't count them though. I'd try and hold out as much as you can - and do measurements! I wish I'd done some measurements just before I started.

I'm on day 5. I've already had the portobella mushroom pizza twice! It's so good you feel like you're cheating.
I did manage to make it through a day where my best friend came over and made chocolate chip cookies. I resisted!
I have to admit I can't make it an entire week without looking at the scale. But even if I have only lost 1 or 2 lbs it motivates me. Plus I already feel better!

I am on Day 8 of the program and down 9 whole pounds! It really does work, though it is very hard, requiring constant committment and daily planning. The amount of pounds I've lost in a week is atypical, so I suspect it's mostly water weight. The book says you should lose 8-13 pounds over two weeks.

What I like:

* Immediate results (1-2 pounds a day in my case.)
* You eat until you are full
* 3 meals + 3 snacks = you're never really too hungry
* Maximum veggie potential
* Cheese, eggs and nuts are allowed
* Can be applied in almost any restaurant. (Waiter, please hold the bread, rice & potatoes.)

For me, the hardest part of this diet isn't giving up pasta or bread, which I do love but can live without. No, it's giving up fruit for two weeks that had me almost reject this diet out of hand. I am a big fruit eater. I have a real philosophical problem with a diet that emphasizes diet drinks and artificial sweeteners over natural fruit. I don't believe artificial sweeteners are healthy for you, so I limit my intake to a few diet soft drinks here and there. When I get a craving for something sweet, I munch on baby tomatoes which have some trace amounts of natural sugars. But giving up fruit is a real hardship for me. The first thing I'm going to have in Phase II is an orange. The second thing I'm going to have is a piece of whole grain bread with peanut butter. Mmm Mmm good.

Anyway, if I wasn't losing this much, I would have seriously considered giving up this diet in favor of the Best Life Diet or Whole Foods diet. I believe low-carb is the best way to go, but I could not live without fruit for very long.

That said, I'm very happy with the results. I am only one pound away from my January mini-goal!!!!

Day 9 for me - today it was too easy! Yesterday it was WAY too hard, thank goodness my bf made me a good dinner, I was just TOO tired from work to even think about food.

booklover's post gave me a thought - are you all having the artificial sweetners? I've had to 100% avoid them 100% of the time, I have a pretty nasty reaction to them (throat swells up, hard time breathing), I have been finding coffee sweet, and have been enjoying THAT quite a bit lately (1 per day). So whats been your staples with phase 1? BTW - GREAT weight loss booklover!!! and what other kind of meat is there besides the ones you've mentioned?

I think I am going to start exercising this week, I am missing it, but week 1 was too intense for me to think about going out for a run or swim. I miss how my body feels afterwards! I am going to the pool tonight, wish me luck with that!

Well, I posted a new topic introducing myself...missed this topic altogether! Ooops. Well, today Tuesday Jan 23 will be my first day on SBD. I wanted to start Monday, however the stomach flu kept me in bed all weekend and feeling like mush until today. I already have my first 3-4 days worth of meals planned out. It seems to me you really have to be prepared about meal planning on this diet. That is not a bad thing, just not the best for someone like me who tends to be unorganized at times. Perhaps I will lose weight AND learn to be more organized which will be a bonus. I am so excited to try out some of the recipes I have seen in the recipe threads. Alot of them look really good and it seems as if you aren't missing a whole lot.
I do have to say though, I will miss my potatoes and my bread...but am sure I will think differently in about two weeks :-) Anyway...looking forward to (hopefully) sharing my success and sharing all of yours with you as well as I read threads.
Good luck to everyone!!

I have always been a lover of v-8 juice. My question is this....I tend to drink v-8 3-4 times a day when I am on the run and feeling a little empty. This is great for helping me get through when I can't get something to eat. Especially now on Phase 1 when I may get stuck without a good snack at hand or be able to prepare something, how limited are we to v-8 juice a day on P1? I don't want to ruin it on day 1 by drinking too much. Any help appreciated!!

I'm on Day 11, I can't believe I've made it this far. Last time I didn't make it past day 5 or 6.. the headaches were just TOO much last time. I am pretty excited to make it this far, only 3 days left to phase 1!